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GROSS SHOWS OFF ENDORSEMENTS

Originally Published by Tim McNulty on Thursday, 31 October 2013 11:33 am.

The campaign for City Council special election candidate Deb Gross flexed its muscles this morning, throwing a get-out-the-vote rally on Grant Street featuring some of the city’s biggest Democratic names.

County exec Rich Fitzgerald MC’d the event, which included reps from a bunch of unions (among them Laborers, SEIU, Firefighters, I.A.T.S.E., Sheet Metal Workers, Building Trades), the chairman of the Labor Council (Jack Shea) and fellow elected officials such as Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa and state Rep. Ed Gainey.

“It’s the community coming together,” said Fitzgerald. “You might say, ‘why is the county involved in a city race?’ Because what happens in the city and what happens in the county affects all of us.”

Gross is running for the two years left in former councilman Patrick Dowd’s term against Tony Ceoffe Jr., Tom Fallon, Jim Wudarczyk and Libertarian Dave Powell, and from the outset has had the support of heavy-hitters such as Fitzgerald and Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Peduto — or, as Fitzgerald called him, “Mayor Peduto.” The Shadyside councilman was running late to the rally as he attended various transition meetings, even as he won’t be elected himself until Tuesday either.

“We’re going to get out Tuesday,” Fitzgerald said, “and work for [Gross] and then she’s going to be part of a great team helping Bill Peduto move this city forward in a strong way.”

Gross took the microphone at the end and remarked about meeting people across District 7′s East End neighborhoods.

“We are all a team. We make Pittsburgh what it is,” she said. ” . . . I would love to be the city councilperson for this district because it’s an amazing time when people are working together. We have an amazing opportunity at this moment with a new administration coming in.”